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AMS Adviser *
Volume 5 Issue 1 - January / February 2000
Welcome to a new issue of the AMS Adviser.
AMS Organizational Changes
Article: Microfilm is Here to Stay - Part 3.
Article: Archives at Risk
in the Digital Age.
Plus we have all the usual bits AMS
Services, Funny bit???
AMS
AMS
Organizational Changes
Janne Page who has been with AMS for 20 Years has decided
to retire. We wish her all the best as she takes a well earned rest and change of life
style.
The last month has been spent ensuring that no customer will be
affected by any changes. We are confident that there will be a smooth transition into the
new structure. The changes will all be in place by mid January, 2000.
The main contact details are as follows:
Ben Tosetto – Managing Director
- Ben controls Finance, Sales and Service
Angela Ciurleo – Administration Manager - Angela is responsible for
Secretarial, Human Resources and Accounts.
David Western – Production Manager
- David is responsible for Production and IT Services.
Over 2000 we will be expanding our Microfilm and Imaging Sections to
include new equipment and technologies.
We will offer offsite storage and retrieval of images via a SILO.
Some new software products will be available by the middle of the
year.
We will be trialing extra shifts to decrease turnarounds
Some new Microfilm equipment will come on-line and allow twice the
capacity in filming heritage materials.
Extra Film Scanning Equipment will arrive in Q1 2000, giving us extra
capacity in Aperture Cards and Rollfilm.
We will be conducting 3-4 seminars this year as new technologies
arrive.
As other changes occur we will keep you informed via the Adviser and
Web-site, or feel free to contact us.
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Archives
at Risk in the Digital Age
An article first published in the Independent on Sunday by Steve
Connor.
It is one of the great ironies of the late 20th Century: computers are
enabling more information to be stored than ever before, yet this is turning out to be the
worst documented period in history.
Professional archivists are alarmed at the number of official documents
being lost for posterity through being stored in electronic forms that will be unreadable
in years to come. They have launched an international effort to avert a crisis that could
mark the beginning of the end of history as it has been studied for centuries.
Britain’s official archive authority, the Public Record Office,
has been joined by the government archive services of the US, Canada and Australia to
co-ordinate a campaign to warn the world about the dangers of losing historic
documentation in the digital age.
A majority problem is the continual turnover of new computers, new
software and new ways of storing information, either on magnetic tapes, floppy disks or
laser read optical disks.
"This digital information gets lost in a self perpetuating and
expensive cycle of obsolescence and incompatibility", Professor Durance said.
"Anyone who attempts to recover an old letter from an outdated 5 1/4" floppy
disk which was written in an obsolete word processing program on a personal computer whose
manufacturer is no longer in business, faces this problem."
An example of the difficulties that archivists face occurred when the
German Federal Archives in Koblenz attempted to save thousands of historically important
computer files from the communist era of the former East Germany. "The documentation
of the digital systems on which the records were generated is missing, the software codes
are unknown and the storage media themselves obsolete and in poor condition,"
Professor Duranti said. "The electronic records of East Germany are lost to the new
German government."
to be continued…………
If you would like any article in full repeated or sent to you, just
let us know.
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Microfilm
is here to stay.
This is the final part of this article, If you want it in full, just
contact us.
Microfilm v COLD (structured output)
Perhaps the biggest ‘Microfilm Killer’ quoted in the past few
years has been Computer Output to Laser Disk, or COLD. COLD has been mentioned as a
replacement for Computer Output to Microfilm, but COLD too may be seen to suffer from the
same potential disadvantages of the EDM system. Although the advantages of being able to
retrieve information quickly, and sort it within a user’s own parameters may be
deemed useful in the short term, the storage media (in the case of COLD typically CD-ROM)
may become obsolete (and again the longevity of the media has been estimated, not yet
established). Even now, a CD drive has to cope with a number of CD ‘standards’
(eg. CD-DA, CD-ROM Mode 1, and CD-ROM XA in modes 1 and 2 formats). As stated above,
storage technologies in terms of both tape and optical is advancing at an incredible rate,
and compatibility with current ‘standards’ may not be guaranteed.
Avoiding the pitfalls
Culture Shock. Over the next few years, many organisations
will be embarking on document management for the first time. Their staff will be used to
methods and procedures in force before document management was introduced. New technology
is of no use whatsoever if the people are not trained and encouraged in its use. Good
suppliers will be able to provide training (at a price) and should be willing to advise
you on how to present the benefits of document management in ways which appeal to the
staff who will be working with the system.
Over-enthusiasm. There always has to be a good reason for
storing any particular document. By no means will all the documents that come into your
organisation need retaining. Don’t waste money capturing and storing every piece of
information you can lay your hands on. If documents aren’t going to be referred to,
throw them away if you can! Perhaps your document management system will scan documents to
hard disk for initial frequent reference (most systems do this) and can then archive them
to microfilm for longer term storage. Think hard about which documents need archiving and
which can be simply deleted.
Conclusion
In conclusion, document managers should ask themselves crucial
questions regarding the longevity of a document. Microfilm may be seen to be an area of
calm in terms of technological change, offering a guaranteed medium on which to store
documents, that has the benefit of sound standards and legal admissibility. There is
information available that has been stored for 70 years and is still in pristine
condition. All the ‘equipment’ needed to view that information is a good source
of light – and that information is totally complete and fully retrievable without
technology.
If you require any article in full please feel free to contact us.
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AMS Services.
For the complete run down on what AMS can do for you, click on the following
link.
AMS Services
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Funny bit???
A Burgular broke into a house one night.
He shone his torch around, looking for valuables.
He picked up a CD player to put in his sack when a strange disembodied
voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you".
The Burgular nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off
and froze.
After a few minutes he heard nothing, turned his light back on and
continued searching, Just has he pulled the lead out of the TV set, as clear as a bell,
again he heard a voice say, "Jesus is watching you."
Freaked out, the Burgular shone his torch around frantically, looking
for the source of the voice.
Finally, his flashlight beam came to rest on the parrot.
"Did you say that?" the Burgular asked.
"Yep," the parrot confessed, "I was just trying to warn
you."
The Burgular relaxed. "Warn me huh? Who are you?"
"Moses" replied the parrot.
"Moses!" the Burgular laughed. "What kind of stupid
people would name a Parrot Moses?"
The bird replied, :The same kind of people that would name their
Rottweiler Jesus!"
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Next Month
In the next few issues we will have some new articles which will include the following:
- Canon MS 800 Digital Reader Printer
- AMSView the new version
- Articles and other topics of interest.
Plus all the usual bits & pieces.
Should you want a topic covered or need an article in full, please feel free to
contact AMS.
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Go to AMS HomePage.
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